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Publishing Triangle Awards
The Publishing Triangle
In short
The Publishing Triangle Awards are given by an association of LGBTQ+ people working in publishing, in ten categories covering nonfiction, poetry, debut fiction, trans and gender-variant literature, crime writing, books for young readers, social justice writing, and fiction. Each carries a $1,000 prize, and readers and editors who follow LGBTQ+ publishing watch the lists. The awards page does not say who may submit or what it costs, so ask your publisher to watch for the annual call from late September and check there whether an individual author may enter.
Next cycle not announcedChecked September 16, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Every label is a fact from the official rules, never a judgment about whether the award is worth entering. How we describe awards.
This program has not published a verified deadline for its next cycle. Use the official link before making plans.
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The Publishing Triangle, an association of LGBTQ+ people in publishing based in New York, presents a set of annual book awards. The ten primary awards are the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction, the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction, the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry, the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, the Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature, the Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ Crime Writing, the Jacqueline Woodson Award for LGBTQ+ Children's and Young Adult Literature, the Amber Hollibaugh Award for LGBTQ+ Social Justice Writing, and the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction. Each carries a $1,000 prize.
The organization also gives the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement ($3,000), the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award ($1,500), the Michele Karlsberg Leadership Award ($500), and the Torchbearer Award ($1,000).
The submissions period generally runs from late September through early December, with exact dates varying each year. The awards page does not spell out eligibility, who may submit, copies, or fees, so those details come from the annual call for submissions.
Why it may matter
These are the longest-running awards given by LGBTQ+ publishing professionals in the United States, with category-specific prizes in poetry, crime writing, trans literature, and children's books that broader programs do not always offer. The fall submission window means a book published in the current year should be on the list before the call closes in early December.
Deadlines
No cycle has been verified for this award yet. Use the official rules link.
Worth knowing
Our reading, not a rule the organization published. We judge an award on the rubric in how we describe awards.
Watch the Publishing Triangle site from late September for the year's call, which sets the eligibility year, deadline, and any fee. Finalists and winners are typically announced in the spring; the awards page does not give dates. As of September 16, 2026 the awards page (publishingtriangle.org/awards/ (opens in a new tab)) said only that the call is posted early in the fall and that the submission period generally runs from late September through early December; the next cycle was not announced, so this record carries no cycle.
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 16, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.
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